(picture is model not Spivy) Unfortunately, racism is alive and well. Check out Yolanda Spivy’s story. First and foremost NEVER answer diversity questions, it’s a slick way to discriminate against you.
Before I begin, let me quote the late, great, Booker T. Washington who said, “Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one human being to hate another by reason of his race or color. “For two years, I have been unemployed.
In the beginning, I applied to more than three hundred open positions in the insurance industry””an industry that I’ve worked in for the previous ten years. Not one employer responded to my resume. So, I enrolled back into college to finish my degree.
After completing school this past May, I resumed my search for employment and was quite shocked that I wasn’t getting a single response. I usually applied for positions advertised on the popular website Monster. com.
I’d used it in the past and have been successful in obtaining jobs through it. Two years ago, I noticed that Monster. com had added a “diversity questionnaire” to the site.
This gives an applicant the opportunity to identify their sex and race to potential employers. Monster. com guarantees that this “option” will not jeopardize your chances of gaining employment.
You must answer this questionnaire in order to apply to a posted position””it cannot be skipped. At times, I would mark off that I was a Black female, but then I thought, this might be hurting my chances of getting employed, so I started selecting the “decline to identify” option instead. That still had no effect on my getting a job.
So I decided to try an experiment: I created a fake job applicant and called her Bianca White. First, I created an email account and resume for Bianca. I kept the same employment history and educational background on her resume that was listed on my own.
But I removed my home phone number, kept my listed cell phone number, and changed my cell phone greeting to say, “You have reached Bianca White. Please leave a message. ” Then I created an online Monster.com account, listed Bianca as a White woman on the diversity questionnaire, and activated the account.
That very same day, I received a phone call. The next day, my phone line and Bianca’s email address, were packed with potential employers calling for an interview.
I was stunned. More shocking was that some employers, mostly Caucasian-sounding women, were calling Bianca more than once, desperate to get an interview with her. All along, my real Monster.
com account was open and active; but, despite having the same background as Bianca, I received no phone calls. Two jobs actually did email me and Bianca at the same time. But they were commission only sales positions.
Potential positions offering a competitive salary and benefits all went to Bianca. At the end of my little experiment, (which lasted a week), Bianca White had received nine phone calls””I received none. Bianca had received a total of seven emails, while I’d only received two, which again happen to have been the same emails Bianca received.
Let me also point out that one of the emails that contacted Bianca for a job wanted her to relocate to a different state, all expenses paid, should
